free speech
443 pieces tagged “free speech”, newest first.
Facebook: Only a Few Workers Squelched Conservative News
If one rogue employ can suppress conservative ideas, so can 1,000.
'Climate Change Inquisition' Backtracks, but Fight Isn't Over
Some good news, some not-so-good news.
Witch Hunt Against Climate Skeptics Begins
The thought of dissenters being imprisoned isn't so far-fetched after all.
Don't Let Principals Censor the Internet
In a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit last August, Judge Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale argued that a rap song featuring allegations of sexual harassment against two high school coaches represented a threat to civilization itself. As Barksdale explained it, coaches are teachers, teachers are essential to education, and "without education, there can be little, if any, civilization."
Punishing Agitators Depends on Who's Being Agitated
Miss America contestant misses out over PC remarks.
Higher Education Is a House Divided
Although he is just 22, Andrew Zeller is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in mathematics at Purdue University. He is one reason the school is a rare exception to the rule of unreason on American campuses, where freedom of speech is under siege. He and Purdue are evidence that freedom of speech, by which truth is winnowed from error, is most reliably defended by those in whose intellectual pursuits the truth is most rigorously tested by reality.
Freedom of Speech and Public Employee Unions
U.S. labor unions have long been experiencing a decline. In 1954, union membership for both public and private sector employees combined peaked at 28.3 percent. Today only around 11 percent of all workers belong to unions. The overall rate of union membership would be much lower were it not for the public sector — teachers, police officers, other municipal workers — where the rate of union membership is considerably higher at nearly 36 percent. This higher rate among the public sector is why the outcome of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association is a major concern for labor leaders.
College Campus Protests: This Is the Generation That Will Destroy America
What in the name of John Blutarsky is happening on our university campuses? A new survey from the Pew Research Center reveals that a shocking number of Millennials support curbing free speech. According to their findings, 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 believe the government should be able to ban any speech that is offensive to minority groups.
The Death of Free Speech
Four in 10 young Americans have no idea what America is. That's the takeaway from a new Pew Research poll showing that 40 percent of Americans aged 18-34 say that the government should be able to prevent people from making "statements that are offensive to minority groups." This same group of young people has granted broad awareness to the culture of "microaggression" — unintended slights taken as grave insults by their victims; they've also called for "trigger warnings," alerts that certain communications may dredge up unpleasant past memories or ideas.
Caving in to Crybullies
Millions of people worldwide were horrified to learn that Paris had been attacked by terrorists. But some supporters of the student protests at the University of Missouri had a unique reason for their dismay: outrage over what had happened in France was taking the spotlight off their grievances. "Wow, all this ruckus on the news and on social media about Paris in ANOTHER COUNTRY, but nothing about #Mizzou in AMERICA," read one tweet reported by The Daily Caller. "I see a lot of celebrities posting about Paris and nothing about #Mizzou," another whined. And those are the less profane reactions.
Freedom of Speech Includes Talking About Pets
Never has American freedom of speech been attacked so flagrantly, promiscuously and on so many fronts. The most egregious examples come from campuses and Congress. On campuses, censorship proliferates as political advocacy is confined to designated spaces. In Congress, 54 Democratic senators have voted to amend the First Amendment to empower Congress to regulate the quantity, content and timing of political campaign speech. There are, however, smaller, less visible and hence especially insidious abridgements of the right to make oneself heard. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will decide whether to hear such a case from Texas, where it is a crime for a retired veterinarian to share his advice with people seeking it.
The Race to Riot on College Campuses
College campuses are again in turmoil. According to The New York Times, "Racist, sexist and anti-Semitic incidents on and near college campuses from Dartmouth to Wisconsin to Stanford this fall have provoked worries by education and civil rights leaders that such acts are on the increase." That wasn't a story in yesterday's newspaper. That was a story in the Times edition of October 31, 1988. Most campuses where these incidents occurred were noted for their liberalism. They included such bastions of feminism as Smith and Wellesley colleges, Amherst and Mount Holyoke, as well as Yale and Dartmouth and even what many regard as ground zero of liberal academia, The University of Wisconsin at Madison.
On Campus, a Freedom From Speech
Yale's president, Peter Salovey, dealt with the Crisis of the Distressing Email about Hypothetical Halloween Costumes about as you would expect from someone who has risen to eminence in today's academia. He seems to be the kind of adult who has helped produce the kind of students who are such delicate snowflakes that they melt at the mere mention of even a potential abrasion of their sensibilities.